Analysis of selected songs from Ján Cikker's cycle What My Children Told Me and a proposal for their didactic and methodological application

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Autor/ Author: Viliam Udič            

In: Studia Scientifica Facultatis Paedagogicae Universitas Catholica Ružomberok

ISSN: 1336-2232

Ročník/ Volume: XXV.

Číslo/ Issue: 4

Strany/ Page Range: 94-103

Rok vydania/ Publication Year: 2026

Jazyk/ Language: Slovak

Vydavateľ/ Publisher: VERBUM – vydavateľstvo Katolíckej univerzity v Ružomberku

Abstrakt/ Abstract: The past century in the development of Slovak music represents a relatively complex and stylistically diverse range of trends. This era resulted from composers' personal convictions regarding their own compositional styles, the implementation of new compositional techniques into practice, and a national foundation oriented toward Slovak folk song with its specific melodic, rhythmic, and tonal characteristics. A significant factor that markedly influenced the nature of these compositions was the fluctuating socio-political situation. Ján Cikker, a representative of the generation known as the Slovak Musical Modernism, was a visionary who moved away from compositions with a clearly legible national character. He explored new harmonic possibilities of expanded tonal harmony, worked with atonal music, and sought a new sonorism in his work. The piano cycle What the Children Told Me (Čo mi deti rozprávali) is a culmination of these aforementioned compositional views and techniques. Simultaneously, through his music, the author conveys a sincere, ideal world of childhood to the listener. In addition to the analysis of selected works, this paper offers a methodological-didactic section in which the author proposes original methods suitable for teaching Music Theory at primary art schools. The presented activities, combining verbal, visual, and practical methods, focus on active listening, the verbalization of music, movement demonstration, and metro-rhythmic education. The program-oriented compositional material also provides space for creating original stories that evoke the character of the music, conditioned by the tectonic structure of the composition.

Kľúčové slová/ Keywords: Piano cycle. Ján Cikker. Slovak music. Chromaticism. Atonality. Modality. Method.

Citácia/ How to cite:
UDIČ, Viliam, 2026. Analýzy vybraných skladieb z cyklu Čo mi deti rozprávali Jána Cikkera a návrh ich didakticko-metodickej aplikácie. Studia Scientifica Facultatis Paedagogicae Universitas Catholica Ružomberok. Online. Roč. XXV., č. 4, s. 94-103. ISSN 1336-2232. Dostupné na:

Toto dielo je publikované pod/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.